THE LEICESTER MAIL

Leicester, Leicestershire, England

7 August 1930

(page 11)

Book Reviews.

A Defence of Aleister Crowley,

Spoken of Variously as “Beast

666” and “The King of Depravity.”

Personal Vilification.

“The Legend of Aleister Crowley,” by P.R. Stephensen (Mandrake Press, Ltd., 2/6).

It may be that there are some men who do not know of Aleister Crowley and who consequently know nothing of the “legend” associated with his name. For such the subtitle is informative: “Being a Study of the Documentary Evidence Relating to a Campaign of Personal Vilification Unparalleled in Literary History.”

Crowley, then, is a minor poet, and the author of a number of books, most of them printed privately. He is one of the class who, when they fail to attract attention by such merit as they may happen to possess, go out to secure this end by shocking them. His perverse humour has annoyed many people. Annoyed! Indeed, it has angered them to such an extent that the following are some of the titles (all set out in this book) he has won.

Beast 666,

The King of Depravity

The Wickedest Man in the World,

A Cannibal at Large,

A Human Beast.

It will be readily understood, therefore, that the author of this defence of Crowley has engaged upon a pretty stiff task. To give him due credit he has done it pretty well. But to be quite frank it hardly seems worth while.